Once Friends
by Waiyza
Summary: Sirius Black has had enough of his family and their pure-blood mania and after another row with his mother; he’s just about ready to leave. Told from Bellatrix Black-Lestrange’s POV. Warning: Daggers, blood, and incensed Blacks.


**Author Notes: **I'd like to thank my betas Ellipsis Black and Meghan for doing a wonderful job editing my story! You guys rock! J

*

_"When I was about sixteen…I'd had enough…"_

_" Leave__? Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents and their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be Black made you practically royal…" – Sirius, OotP _

**Once Friends**

Azkaban was just as I imagined: dark, cold, and eerily silent. It was a formidable fortress made of stone and it towered into the night sky. Its huge shadow blanketed most of the empty island and its lighted watch towers threw a strange glow around the prison – soon to be _my_ prison. 

Four Dementors flanked around me. I smirked knowing that the Ministry would only send this many for someone they believed was 'highly dangerous'.  I held my head up high in defiance, but the stone beneath my bare feet was icy and I involuntarily winced. The Dementors led me up a long staircase to the upper cells. We passed by many different cells, most of them ex-Death Eaters, like myself. I had hoped to see someone I had known and had peered into every cell for as long as I could, but most were nameless faces and the ones I did know had long gone insane. 

Some who had not gone completely mad had seen me and whimpered. I smiled wickedly at them, for I knew they were of the lower Deatheater ranks. I was there superior not just in rank, but also in faithfulness to my Lord. They, however, had come to Azkaban unlike those who had wheedled their way out of it. But those would get what they deserved when my Lord was restored to power…they would pay for their betrayal.

We passed by another cell and my patience was waning. 

"When the hell are we going to get there?" I shouted, harshly. The Dementors merely turned around, looked at me for a few seconds, and then continued walking, the one behind me pushed me with its bony hand and a chill ran through my entire body, causing me to freeze in my spot. The others turned around and hissed at me, snapping me back to attention.

We passed by another cell and this time I managed to catch the nameplate…Engraved into a metal square was a name I had wished to forget…**Sirius Black, followed by, **High Security Prisoner. **My eyes flicked into the cell and I saw him. He looked so different…he was no longer the handsome boy I hade once known. His face was pale, and gaunt…his dark hair was long, straggly and oily. He gave me no sign of recognition, but I knew it was just a façade.**

I stared at him and our eyes met for only a single agonizing second, but that was enough to trigger unwanted memories.

*

It was a horrible summer. The weather had suddenly changed from a nice mild warm to humid and unbearably hot. Most took refuge indoors, for just a single step outdoors would result in profuse. The sticky, heavy air was sickening. 

Mother and Father had gone on holiday to France. They had left Andromeda, Narcissa, and I with our Aunt Edeline, my father's beloved sister-in-law. Aunt Edeline was a scary woman. She had extremely dark hair and eyes, and a glare that could terrify even the bravest man. I, however, had learned from an early age that she was all empty threats. She yelled, screamed, stamped her foot, but _did_ nothing, really. The only person that she ever did punish was Sirius, and he was not there, that time.

I was utterly bored. My younger sisters weren't any fun. Narcissa wanted to do nothing but brush her lovely, white-gold hair, and stare at herself in the mirror. And Andromeda only wanted to read, refusing to do anything with me. I had begged her to come explore Grimmauld Place with me, for it was quite an interesting place, but she refused, saying that if we were caught Aunt Edeline would severely tell us off, not to mention tell our parents. 

But I couldn't care less what Aunt Edeline would do, so I sourly called her a bore and, thrusting my nose in the air, I disdainfully left the room. As I made my way out, I heard Narcissa comment to Andromeda that I wasn't acting my age and that I needed to grow up. That only made my desire to go through with my plans of exploration even stronger. So what if I was eighteen? Did that mean I was no longer allowed to have fun? As I walked through the empty hallways, I cursed Sirius for not being there. 

Although we had grown distant over the years because of our situation at Hogwarts, we still saw each other at family gatherings. Most of my cousins ignored him, because he was a disgrace to the Black family – he had been sorted into Gryffindor and had been the subject of much malicious gossip.

At school we ignored each other. I was in Slytherin, he in Gryffindor. Our loyalty to our house was stronger than our friendship. There was also an age difference; I was two years his senior. But during the breaks we often saw each other, and would forget our attitudes at school. 

We would get together and cause much havoc. Our cousins dreaded us, for we managed to always get one of them in trouble, but never once getting caught ourselves. We used magic outside of school, for no one ever dared to send a Black a warning, we were after all most feared family of the time, dueled each other in the garden, and completed unfathomable dares. 

As we grew older things began to change; Sirius wasn't the same anymore. Once, during a small family dinner party, I made a joke about mudbloods, all my cousins roared with laughter, but Sirius stayed silent. No one noticed, except for me. I soon found out that he had changed drastically. He was different from myself. The muggle-lovers in Gryffindor had turned him into one of them, and for that I resented them with passion. When we met at family gatherings, I was willing, however, to put these things aside, and so was Sirius…

Although I didn't believe in what he did, at least with him around it wouldn't be so boring. Then I frowned, because I knew he was probably with that idiot Potter boy. The Potters were a disgrace to the Wizarding world. _Almost as bad as filthy mudbloods. I couldn't see why Sirius was so attached to him. And his mother would throw a bloody tantrum when he got home. Now, that I thought would be quite amusing…but I didn't know how very wrong I had been…_

*

I was back in the room given to my sisters and I. When I heard the loud crash. I turned to them.  Narcissa had dropped her brush and her eyes were opened wide, Andromeda had closed her book and her forehead was creased in fear. I got up, but my sisters remained rooted in their seats.

"Bella, no…" said Andromeda weakly. 

I ignored her and made my way to the source of the noise. It was coming from below, and I hastily made my way to the staircase. I reached it and was about to walk down there, but froze. Aunt Edeline was screaming like never before, and Sirius was yelling back at her in defiance, only causing her to get even angrier…

I crouched onto one of the stairs and watched the scene unfold. 

"You cannot tell me what to do!" roared Sirius, his eyes bulging and his entire body quivering with anger.

"I am your mother! I will tell you anything I want!" shouted Aunt Edeline. She was breathing heavily and stared at Sirius with utter contempt.

"I don't care if you're my bloody mother! I will do whatever I want! You – " 

Aunt Edeline cut him off, "Yes, I can and I will! You are living under the roof of your father and I, wearing the clothes _we_ provided for you, eating _our food…you will follow our rules or else!" she hissed._

Sirius clenched his fist, and his knuckles began to turn white, he was breathing heavily and he glared with loathing at his mother. I was beginning to get slightly frightened; I had never seen Sirius this angry before. Meanwhile his mother continued to rage…

"And I will not, _will not,_ have any son of mine hanging around filth like the Potters! Do you hear me? They are traitors to all pure-blooded families! A disgrace to the Wizarding world…the way they associate with mudbloods is unacceptable! You will stop this idle friendship with the Potter boy!"

She had obviously hit a nerve, because Sirius had literally begun to shake with anger.

"They are not a disgrace!" he yelled back. "You don't even know…your pure-blood mania has driven you insane! The Potters are ten times better than this damn family!" he seethed.  His comment alarmed me, what was he playing at? I was beginning to dislike him more with every word he said. How could he insult his family name? Had he no pride? 

Aunt Edeline, who had been standing by a rack of pots, grabbed one and sent it flying at Sirius' head. Sirius dodged it quickly, and then tried to leave the kitchen, but his mother blocked his way. 

"How dare you!" her voice was hoarse from yelling. "How dare you talk of the Black family in that manner! We are the purest, the most noble family to ever exist! And you try to compare us to the likes of the Potters! They are nothing compared to the Blacks, nothing!"

Sirius didn't reply, but let her rage on.

"You should be thankful that you were born a Black!  Look at your younger brother! _Regulus__ is always good,__ Regulus never gives me problems! And neither will you from now on! You will act as a proper pure-blood and will no longer associate with that Potter boy! Won't you?" she stopped for a reply._

Sirius stared at her and quietly said, "No…I won't."

 I couldn't believe it. I knew Sirius didn't exactly love his family, but this was insane! What was he thinking? I couldn't feel pity for him any longer…he was beginning to make me very angry. I wasn't sure if I wanted his company anymore. After all he had just insulted our family name, and defied his mother…

"What?" demanded Aunt Edeline.

"I said 'No I won't!' " yelled Sirius.  My heart began to beat faster and faster. Surely Aunt Edeline would not just accept this.

"You will," she said, simply, "You will be a proper pure-blood like your brother and cousins, you will be proud of your family name, and of your blood. And, you will stop associating with any lowlifes," she finished off, and began to leave. 

I mentally applauded her. Sirius could do nothing now; he _had to listen to his mother. The sharp determination in her voice told me that she wouldn't just let Sirius defy her and get away with it. I hoped he got punished. What he said was outrageous, sickening even. How could he not be proud of being pure-blood? He disgusted me._

"If being pure-blood means that I must walk around with my nose in the air, acting like I'm some kind of royalty then maybe…" he trailed off and pulled something out of his pocket.

Aunt Edeline turned around and waited for him to continue. I watched Sirius closely and saw what he pulled out of his pocket. It was a dagger. Not just any dagger, but _the dagger. I hadn't seen it in ages and longed to hold it in my hand and to stroke the smooth blade. Sirius and I had found the dagger when we were younger. We had found it in one of the empty rooms in Grimmauld Place. I had found it first and claimed it as mine, but Sirius smartly pointed out that it was __his house so therefore it was more his than mine. We eventually came to the agreement that it was both of ours and we would share it.  Some time later we found another one, but it was nowhere near as beautiful as the first dagger. But from that day on we would have regular sword matches with our daggers; we would switch off using the cheap one. Since the daggers weren't as long as real swords, fighting with them was harder and made getting hurt a lot easier because we had to stand closer. I instinctively ran a finger across the upper part of my left cheek where Sirius had first struck me. My mother had been furious when I refused to tell her where I had gotten that cut, but nevertheless she healed it saying that I would never find a respectable suitor with that wound. _

I had wanted to keep the wound as a souvenir, as a memory of what happened if you were weak, but I knew not to disobey my mother. We had stopped fighting with it when Andromeda caught us once and threatened to tell our parents what we were up too. 

Sirius was obviously remembering too, for he stared at the dagger fondly for some time. He looked up at his mother and at first I was afraid Sirius was going to lunge at her with the dagger, but then he began to speak again. 

"If being pure-blood means that I must walk around with my nose in the air, acting like I'm some kind of royalty and looking down upon everyone else then maybe," he paused and in a quick flash pressed the sharp blade of the dagger against the pale skin of his forearm. He didn't even flinch but I had to suppress a scream as I watched his crimson blood trail down his arm. "Then maybe I don't want my blood," he finished off holding his arm up in the air so that his mother could see his wound. 

The blood dripped down his arm and fell onto Aunt Edeline's precious hardwood floors that she had forced the houseleves to clean until they gleamed. But she made no move. She stared at Sirius, and he stared back at her, never lowering his arm.  At length the blood stopped flowing out of his wound, but they continued to stare at each other.

My mind was in a state of  utter confusion. I could not understand what was wrong with Sirius. He was being a fool, and as far as I was concerned he was no relative of mine.  He denied the supremacy of pure-bloods -- an unspeakable crime. I was breathing heavily and stared at him vehemently. I was disgusted with myself for not seeing what he really was from the beginning. He was no better than the Potter boy he hung around, no better than a filthy mudblood.

"I'm leaving," Sirius finally said to his mother.

"Go. You are no son of mine. Leave, I never want to see your face again!" she said hoarsely. Sirius looked at her one last time and then turned on his heel and marched up the stairs. I scrambled to get out of the way.

I followed him to his room and watched him throw all of his bags unceremoniously into his trunk. He ignored me the whole time.  When he was done he looked up and our eyes met for a single second. He quickly turned away.

"You're leaving then?" I asked slowly, not bothering to hide the contempt from my voice.

"Yes," he said coldly. He turned around and looked me in the eye. "I'm sick and tired of you guys and your bloody pure-blood mania. You all act as if to be Black is to be Royal…" I clenched my fists and glared at him, but he continued on, "Well you know what? I think you're all insane!" he finished off.

"You're a fool Sirius," I replied harshly, "Where will you go? To your precious Potter? And if they don't take you in, then what? Will you wander through the streets like a _dog _begging for food?"

He tried to leave the room, but I stood in the doorway and blocked his way; he would not leave until he heard me out. 

"You're a disgrace, Sirius, not even worthy of my spit!" I said, my voice rising as my anger increased.

Sirius laughed bitterly. "So quickly does your opinion change! Am I not you're _favorite _cousin anymore? I don't recall you hating me so much when we used to play together."

"That was before I realized what filth you are," I said coldly.

He laughed again, but then his expression turned serious. "Get out of my way, Bella.  I'm leaving and I'm never coming back."

"No!" I shouted. I no longer knew why I was holding him back. I wished nothing but to never see him again, but for some reason I didn't want to see him go.  Perhaps it was because Sirius was the only one in the family I'd really connected with; perhaps it was because I secretly wanted to go with him, to get away from the uptight life of a Black. 

"Get out of my way Bella!" he said again, this time through clenched teeth, "I never want to see you again! As far as I'm concerned you and your pure-blood mania, your 'Black's rule the world' attitude can just disappear!"

He had touched a nerve. 

"You ungrateful little brat!" I hissed, "I have done nothing but try to help you! Did I, like everyone else, tease you mercilessly for being in Gryffindor? I didn't even send an owl to your mother, as she had asked me to, when you had been sorted! I prevented Cissa and Andy from doing so too! I risked being punished just for your sake!  I even threatened all of the Slytherins to a duel if they touched you! I never said anything when you started hanging out with the likes of Potter! And what do I get as repayment? You wish not to see me anymore? Then go ahead!" I moved out of his way. He looked at me for a moment, and then fled….

*

I had tried to suppress that memory for so long but it came crashing down on me when I saw Sirius in his cell. I hadn't seen him since that day, which was now so long ago. Everything had changed that day. I had become more convinced of pure-blood supremacy, and when my Lord began to preach his beliefs I was one of his first followers. Sirius, I later learned, was working with the fool, Dumbledore. And when I learned my Lord wanted to kill the Potters and their little son, Harry, I was his most ardent supporter. It was all Potter's fault Sirius had turned on us, and as far as I was concerned he deserved to die…and what better way to die than at the hands of the greatest wizard of all time?  I rejoiced when I found out that my Lord killed him and his mudblood wife, but then wept bitterly when I found out that my Lord had gone. The night before the Aurors came to get me, I caused havoc. Rodolphus contacted me, saying that he had caught two Aurors. I went to meet him and reluctantly took Crouch Jr. with me; he had literally begged to go along. The Aurors were a round-faced woman, and her husband – pathetic specimens, but they were all we had. Everything else was gone, our master had been destroyed a few hours before, and we knew that the other Aurors would be coming for us next. So we decided to enjoy our last moments of freedom. Rodolphus, pretending to be perfect gentlemen, let me go first -- I relished their screams, and this time I didn't stop cursing them – there was no need to keep them alive. Soon, however, the Aurors found us, and I was sentenced. However, I wasn't afraid to be here, that was the difference between me and everyone else. I knew this was an honor and that once my Lord regained his power, I would be rewarded beyond my wildest dreams. 

And then, then my dear cousin, whom I could tell was still very much sane, would pay. He would pay for his words, pay for his foolishness, and most importantly would pay for turning his back on me. It would be me that would make him pay. Those were my thoughts when I was dragged into my cell; it was the only thing I dwelled upon in the long years I spent in Azkaban. It was the reason I never went insane, it kept me alive…and I knew one day I would get my sweet revenge – one day I would make him pay.


End file.
